BambooHR vs. QuickBooks Desktop for Mac

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
BambooHR
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
BambooHR is an on-line human resources solution that provides onboarding, payroll, and benefits management. It also offers automated time-off management and employee self-service.
$250
per month
QuickBooks Desktop for Mac
Score 7.4 out of 10
N/A
Quickbooks Desktop for Mac is an accounting software designed for Mac users. It is designed to integrate with Apple iCloud. It provides core accounting features in line with the rest of the Quickbooks Desktop product line.N/A
Pricing
BambooHRQuickBooks Desktop for Mac
Editions & Modules
Core
$250
per month
Pro
$250
per month
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BambooHRQuickBooks Desktop for Mac
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional DetailsNo matter what HR looks like at your company, we have the perfect plan for you!
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
BambooHRQuickBooks Desktop for Mac
Considered Both Products
BambooHR
Chose BambooHR
BambooHR pricing leaves it a bit harder of a sell than some of the competitors we have used in the past. If it was fully featured rich with an overflow of integrations that might be different, but as it stands, without a pricing change, I think that bridge is a harder sell for …
QuickBooks Desktop for Mac

No answer on this topic

Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
BambooHRQuickBooks Desktop for Mac
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
8.1
133 Ratings
3% above category average
QuickBooks Desktop for Mac
-
Ratings
Employee demographic data7.7112 Ratings00 Ratings
Employment history8.7120 Ratings00 Ratings
Job profiles and administration8.4118 Ratings00 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.8.2105 Ratings00 Ratings
Organizational charting7.3117 Ratings00 Ratings
Organization and location management8.1107 Ratings00 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)8.663 Ratings00 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
8.0
85 Ratings
0% below category average
QuickBooks Desktop for Mac
10.0
11 Ratings
33% above category average
Pay calculation8.258 Ratings10.09 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors8.248 Ratings00 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment8.035 Ratings00 Ratings
Benefit plan administration8.864 Ratings10.06 Ratings
Direct deposit files8.463 Ratings10.08 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management8.067 Ratings10.05 Ratings
Reimbursement management6.734 Ratings10.07 Ratings
Leave and Attendance Management
Comparison of Leave and Attendance Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
8.9
114 Ratings
10% above category average
QuickBooks Desktop for Mac
-
Ratings
Approval workflow9.2112 Ratings00 Ratings
Balance details8.9104 Ratings00 Ratings
Annual carry-forward and encashment8.493 Ratings00 Ratings
Employee Self Service
Comparison of Employee Self Service features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
8.6
127 Ratings
6% above category average
QuickBooks Desktop for Mac
-
Ratings
View and generate pay and benefit information8.279 Ratings00 Ratings
Update personal information9.0126 Ratings00 Ratings
View company policy documentation8.7105 Ratings00 Ratings
Employee recognition8.383 Ratings00 Ratings
View job history8.7118 Ratings00 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
7.7
50 Ratings
1% below category average
QuickBooks Desktop for Mac
-
Ratings
Tracking of all physical assets7.750 Ratings00 Ratings
HR Reporting
Comparison of HR Reporting features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
7.7
102 Ratings
1% above category average
QuickBooks Desktop for Mac
-
Ratings
Report builder8.197 Ratings00 Ratings
Pre-built reports7.796 Ratings00 Ratings
Ability to combine HR data with external data7.469 Ratings00 Ratings
Onboarding
Comparison of Onboarding features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
8.6
105 Ratings
7% above category average
QuickBooks Desktop for Mac
-
Ratings
New hire portal8.7100 Ratings00 Ratings
Manager tracking tools8.692 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance and Goals
Comparison of Performance and Goals features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
8.2
64 Ratings
0% above category average
QuickBooks Desktop for Mac
-
Ratings
Corporate goal setting8.248 Ratings00 Ratings
Individual goal setting8.262 Ratings00 Ratings
Line-of sight-visibility8.247 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance tracking8.158 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance Management
Comparison of Performance Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
7.8
70 Ratings
2% below category average
QuickBooks Desktop for Mac
-
Ratings
Performance plans7.563 Ratings00 Ratings
Performance improvement plans7.856 Ratings00 Ratings
Review status tracking7.964 Ratings00 Ratings
Review reminders8.165 Ratings00 Ratings
Multiple review frequency7.861 Ratings00 Ratings
Succession Planning
Comparison of Succession Planning features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
7.1
52 Ratings
11% below category average
QuickBooks Desktop for Mac
-
Ratings
Create succession plans/pools5.834 Ratings00 Ratings
Candidate ranking7.742 Ratings00 Ratings
Candidate search7.145 Ratings00 Ratings
Candidate development7.939 Ratings00 Ratings
Recruiting / ATS
Comparison of Recruiting / ATS features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
8.1
86 Ratings
4% above category average
QuickBooks Desktop for Mac
-
Ratings
Job Requisition Management8.062 Ratings00 Ratings
Company Website Posting8.368 Ratings00 Ratings
Publish to Social Media8.260 Ratings00 Ratings
Job Search Site Posting8.264 Ratings00 Ratings
Duplicate Candidate Prevention7.458 Ratings00 Ratings
Applicant Tracking8.276 Ratings00 Ratings
Notifications and Alerts8.679 Ratings00 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
-
Ratings
QuickBooks Desktop for Mac
6.0
11 Ratings
13% below category average
API for custom integration00 Ratings6.07 Ratings
Plug-ins00 Ratings6.010 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
-
Ratings
QuickBooks Desktop for Mac
10.0
20 Ratings
24% above category average
Single sign-on capability00 Ratings10.020 Ratings
Role-based user permissions00 Ratings10.017 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
-
Ratings
QuickBooks Desktop for Mac
10.0
22 Ratings
30% above category average
Dashboards00 Ratings10.019 Ratings
Standard reports00 Ratings10.022 Ratings
Custom reports00 Ratings10.022 Ratings
General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
-
Ratings
QuickBooks Desktop for Mac
5.8
24 Ratings
22% below category average
Accounts payable00 Ratings8.124 Ratings
Accounts receivable00 Ratings8.123 Ratings
Cash management00 Ratings6.218 Ratings
Bank reconciliation00 Ratings8.824 Ratings
Expense management00 Ratings6.220 Ratings
Time tracking00 Ratings6.212 Ratings
Fixed asset management00 Ratings6.214 Ratings
Multi-currency support00 Ratings1.010 Ratings
Multi-division support00 Ratings6.211 Ratings
Regulations compliance00 Ratings6.210 Ratings
Electronic tax filing00 Ratings8.115 Ratings
Self-service portal00 Ratings6.213 Ratings
Global Financial Support00 Ratings1.07 Ratings
Primary and Secondary Ledgers00 Ratings6.213 Ratings
Intercompany Accounting00 Ratings6.214 Ratings
Localizations00 Ratings1.06 Ratings
Journals and Reconciliations00 Ratings6.217 Ratings
Enterprise Accounting00 Ratings6.25 Ratings
Configurable Accounting00 Ratings6.29 Ratings
Centralized Rules Framework00 Ratings6.29 Ratings
Standardized Processes00 Ratings6.213 Ratings
Inventory Management
Comparison of Inventory Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
-
Ratings
QuickBooks Desktop for Mac
7.7
15 Ratings
14% above category average
Inventory tracking00 Ratings6.214 Ratings
Automatic reordering00 Ratings7.810 Ratings
Location management00 Ratings7.09 Ratings
Manufacturing module00 Ratings10.08 Ratings
Order Management
Comparison of Order Management features of Product A and Product B
BambooHR
-
Ratings
QuickBooks Desktop for Mac
8.3
18 Ratings
15% above category average
Pricing00 Ratings10.017 Ratings
Order entry00 Ratings10.016 Ratings
Credit card processing00 Ratings10.017 Ratings
Cost of goods sold00 Ratings10.016 Ratings
Order Orchestration00 Ratings5.76 Ratings
End-to-end order visibility00 Ratings6.77 Ratings
Order exception Resolution00 Ratings5.66 Ratings
Best Alternatives
BambooHRQuickBooks Desktop for Mac
Small Businesses
Patriot Software
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Score 9.1 out of 10
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QuickBooks Self-Employed
Score 9.3 out of 10
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Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.6 out of 10
Accounting Seed
Accounting Seed
Score 8.3 out of 10
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Infor Human Resources
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Score 7.2 out of 10
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User Ratings
BambooHRQuickBooks Desktop for Mac
Likelihood to Recommend
8.8
(137 ratings)
8.8
(32 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.2
(11 ratings)
8.0
(9 ratings)
Usability
8.6
(64 ratings)
5.4
(6 ratings)
Availability
9.3
(5 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
8.7
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.5
(58 ratings)
6.9
(4 ratings)
Online Training
9.2
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.2
(4 ratings)
5.0
(1 ratings)
Configurability
8.6
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
8.3
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.6
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.9
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Professional Services
9.2
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.9
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.1
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
BambooHRQuickBooks Desktop for Mac
Likelihood to Recommend
BambooHR
If someone is looking for a basic HRIS that will serve a small employee population, BambooHR is a great starting point. This works well enough for what a small business needs. It starts to fall apart in larger organizations or as the needs exceed what BambooHR is capable of. There is a severe lack of customization, and it feels like they are afraid of the users breaking the system, so they put in many guardrails. I'm good with having those, but it dampens the experience for more advanced users. Overall, it is a decent starting point, but not a system any company would want to use long-term as they grow.
Read full review
Intuit
If you're a freelancer or running a very small business where you do your own bookkeeping I think this is a great option, especially if you're familiar with accounting and bookkeeping in general. If you're not so familiar with bookkeeping, I would say that the learning curve is too steep and you might want to look elsewhere for a more intuitive solution
Read full review
Pros
BambooHR
  • The Applicant Tracking System is pretty good. Has a couple flaws but over all it's a really great module.
  • The HR management system works really well and we love how much we can customize things we need.
  • The Reporting feature is one of my favorite things about BambooHR. I can create any report I want and I love that.
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Intuit
  • The program is very easy to learn, the interface is incredibly user-friendly and there are tons of free resources and tutorials available
  • It makes managing payroll really easy for the employee and accountant on staff. No more lost time sheets or late paychecks!
  • Managing bills and paying them has become streamlined and it's great having everything in one place so we don't lose track of things.
Read full review
Cons
BambooHR
  • The performance feature is a little clunky and not adjustable, so I would love to have more customizable options.
  • When a candidate signs an offer letter, it would be great if it could show up under the documents tab. Right now, it gets a little buried.
Read full review
Intuit
  • The #1 complaint is that setting it up right is a challenge. People waste time trying to figure it out only to realize that they don't know accounting so of course they don't know how an accounting program should be set up. Like any time you are in over your head, reach out to your network and find someone who can log onto your computer and walk you through it.
  • If you need to track the cost of wages to jobs you can't do it with the online payroll, but check for yourself because it's a function that landscaping companies and construction businesses usually need, so maybe they have added it by now. That would really help!
  • It's premise-based software and that means you take on the role of hardware admin, and it's a lot of work for what is increasingly becoming a smaller gap in the functionality between QuickBooks for Mac and QuickBooks Online.
  • QuickBooks for Mac 2015 has been updated consistently over the last 3 years and continues to provide for the bookkeeping needs of small companies using Macs in their offices. However, it has limited job costing functionality. It is similar in functionality to the 2010 version of QuickBooksPro which runs on Windows.
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Likelihood to Renew
BambooHR
There's nothing wrong with this platform. I would recommend it to any business starting with more than 10 employees. I will continue to use the program for as long as I need to, hoping they continue being tremendous and finding other ways to incorporate more technology.
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Intuit
I haven't spent that much time with the newer versions of QuickBooks for Mac, but I think I'm seeing it make the much-needed improvements. For example, something as simple as undoing the previous reconciliation was a terrible chore, and I'm glad that feature has been included in the newer versions of QuickBooks for Mac
Read full review
Usability
BambooHR
It is a very easy page to manage for people that are not used to computers or technology in general. That is one of the main reasons Hermosillo chose this service. It has a very friendly UI for every employee to understand, and that is really important because, in the end, we want our employees to feel comfortable looking at their information.
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Intuit
The Mac version is OK overall. I find the Windows versions to be much more robust but Mac is quite good for Mac users. Though I think die hard Mac users should consider QuickBooks Online instead as there is a new QB for Mac app that makes using QBO much better!
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Reliability and Availability
BambooHR
Yes, there is a huge team in the back of the online platform or it looks like it because I have never been left without an answer when I have a question or waiting from a response on my chat .... There must be a huge team, this is so great and I always seem to have someone that is very knowledgeable too. So many times in the past I had to leave with customer service that would connect you with someone else because of the expertise, here everyone seems to be some kind of an expert in the HR function.
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Intuit
I've been using the QuickBooks online version for a little over 6 months now (upgraded from Mac desktop) and I haven't had any access issues. There have been times when it was down for service/upgrade however there is always plenty of notification time given by the Quick Books Online Support team. These upgrade maintenance time frames are always over night hours and on the weekends so everything can be worked around very easily.
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Performance
BambooHR
I love BambooHR. Reports are easy to run and download and it usually covers any types of requests I get from the management team. You get excel or .csv downloads/reports and it is fast and simple, not too crowded so it is easy to read through. We don't integrate the tool yet but again, soon we will. we just did not had the time to utilize it yet but that's the plan.
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Intuit
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
BambooHR
The support is good, they can respond, however the chat sometimes has line to wait, and sometimes you miss your window because you have to keep working. However, they do respond to inquiries and help you to navigate and solve your problems in a timely manner. So, I don't have complaints on that.
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Intuit
Fortunately, I haven't had to reach out much for support.
Read full review
In-Person Training
BambooHR
I didn't have in-person training besides teaching my managers how to use the program. However, I couldn't omit this question (maybe a system glitch).
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Intuit
No answers on this topic
Online Training
BambooHR
As far as I can recall, everything went well with doing it online and got questions answered. Was thankful to work with a dummy file to get used to some practices prior to getting our own domain within bamboo to then place our personnel information in the system, this helped a lot!
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Intuit
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
BambooHR
BambooHR's initial implementation team was amazing. We loved having a dedicated person we could call, email or speak to during the entire process. I feel that's so important when you are new to a software. Our process was time consuming, but well worth the final product.
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Intuit
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
BambooHR
BambooHR was already in place when I started. BambooHR has much better intuitive navigation than any of the other systems but not as much customizability as something like Workday
Read full review
Intuit
I love using Quickbooks compared to other software we've tried. QuickBooks Online and TSheets interface. Customer service and problem resolution are generally excellent, with well-trained and proficient agents taking calls or on chat. Ease of use and accessibility via the mobile app. Great courses were available to help with learning the basics and some advanced accounting background. I love learning! Online accessibility - it can work anywhere with an internet connection. Linking to bank and credit card accounts is handy.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
BambooHR
Since my organization has dropped with employees, I always find ways to reduce costs. I thought there would be a cheaper option, but I was glad that my package included a lot for the price, and downgrading would cost more. The rep could have let me downgraded and taken me to a higher package. I am thankful that didn't happen.
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Intuit
No answers on this topic
Scalability
BambooHR
There is so much you can do with this platform, it is incredible and so welcoming. We don't utilize it 100% yet just because we are growing and the HR team has not been able to concentrate on other areas offered to us but but we will soon. Which is also why we got the product, specifically because what BambooHR can do to help us meet our growing business needs.
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Intuit
No answers on this topic
Professional Services
BambooHR
VERY professional!
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Intuit
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
BambooHR
  • Self Service is great to free up time for Admin.
  • Self-Service/ Tracked PTO and sick days are easy to use and track very well. This frees up Admin time and is transparent for all employees.
  • Easy to use Job postings with very trackable sourcing reports.
  • Easy to use. Easy to onboard and user friendly interface. Requires minimal training.
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Intuit
  • The ROI was good for when we were a smaller company because it is a lot cheaper than other more sophisticated programs.
  • The negative impact is that it caused a lot of extra manual entering and data entry that too often resulted in mistakes.
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ScreenShots

BambooHR Screenshots

Screenshot of BambooHR's Reporting